Welcome to my blog! I blog about the historical romances I write as well as the history behind them.

Welcome lovers of history and lovers in general

Thank you so much for joining me on my blog. My name is Mary
Jean Adams, though I prefer to be called MJ – it sounds so much less formal,
and I hope you’ll stay long enough or come back often enough so that we can get
to know each other.

I write American historical romance novels set in the time
period between the French and Indian War (called the Seven Years War in Europe) and the War of 1812.

Why American Historical? Simply put, I write what I like to
read.

I grew up reading historical romance novels, mainly medieval
periods pieces set somewhere in the British Isles or regency romances set in 19th century England. They were fantastic books,
filled with adventure, beautiful women and men who were really men. (Isn’t that
what romance novels are about, after all?) I still read them them today because they seem to be the most prevelant sub-genre available.

However, I’ve always loved American history and am especially
captivated by stories of the founding of this country. Family legend has it
that my earliest ancestors came from England in 1535. Other ancestors have been
trickling in from various countries ever since. While not a distinguished bunch,
my heritage is tightly woven into the fabric of this country.

There are plenty of American historical novels, but I
haven’t seen very many set around the time when the time our country was
founded. I’m not sure why. Perhaps it’s that while romance writers reference
wars in their stories, not many actually set the hero and heroine in the middle
of one. However, with a surge of patriotism in this country right now, it seems
to me that the time is ripe for more stories about our founding. And it would
be ridiculous to gloss over the three crucial wars that served to create the
country we know today.

When writing, I try to be as true to the history as I can.
It helps that I love history because each piece takes a great deal of research,
checking and rechecking facts. Even then, I’m not perfect. In Le Chevalier,
I described Alexander Hamilton as tall almost until the final revision! It wasn’t until I was killing time watching a
PBS special on Netflix that I discovered he was rather diminutive.

While the main story in my novels is always the romance, I
like to weave as many historical details as possible into each story. My hope
is that those of you who like pure romance will still enjoy the story, but
those interested in American history might learn something new or at least enjoy
seeing new life breathed into the historical timeline.